Sunday, April 27, 2014

Murder in Mississippi

When John Saffran was in the United States recording the television series Race Relations he interviewed Richard Barrett, a white supremacist. As part of the episode Saffran decided to obtain a sample of saliva from Barrett to have a DNA test made to determine whether Barrett had any coloured heritage. Needless to say Barrett was not amused when he discovered the prank and withdrew permission for the show to be broadcast. This should have been the end of the story but when Barrett was murdered a year later Safran decided to return to the United States to follow the court case and try to determine and record what really happened and why. Saffran takes us into another world very different from Australia. The characters he encounters are generally not pleasant people but Saffran's wierd slant on life makes this generally a readable true crime book. As there is a long waiting list for the book at the library I skimmed through the second part of the book but I may have another look at it when the demand for the book dies down.